Sunday, October 27, 2013

Halloween in Space Suite, Part 2!

Today, the last three parts of my Halloween in Space Suite: "Meteors!!" "Memories of Earth," and "Peacocks in Space." This time around, I used a little MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) so I could record something slow and play it back rapidly, and I did a little pitch and time expansion/compression. Otherwise, everything is "live." As in, what you hear is what I played.

I'm pleased by how smooth, ordered, and premeditated the sections sound, because they didn't happen that way, except for "Peacocks," which came together in 30 minutes or so after I scrapped my original idea for it. The chord in "Memories"--i.e., the chord form (C#, F#, B, F, Bb, Eb)--is straight out of Erik Satie, c. 1894. (Two perfect fourth chords, a tritone apart, played as one.) Yet, by 2013 standards, it sounds jazzy. Everything in music is context, I guess.

I think my suite nicely shows off the terrific tones to be found on the Casio WK-3800. If only I'd held onto the list thereof, which was included as an insert with my 3800 literature. But it's gone. The 3800's chassis lists a portion, but only a portion, of the tone library, so I'm forced to do a lot of hunting. Then, once I find a cool tone, I tend not to record its number, so... much of my time spent composing a piece is more like time spent searching for a sound I recorded but forgot to write down. I never said I was organized, and, if I did, I lied.

Danger, Thrills, and MonstersSpace SpooksView from the Space StationMeteors!!Memories of EarthPeacocks in SpaceComposed and played by Lee Hartsfeld on his Casio WK-3800, with assistance from Sonar X2 Essential and Magix Audio Cleaning Lab MX.

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About Me

I was born in Toledo, served in the Navy eight years, graduated from Bowling Green State University with a B.A. in Popular Culture, and worked for fifteen years as a Medicare claims examiner. We reside in the country with eleven cats, two of whom--Griff and Wesley--are my very own tuxedos (black-and-whites).